On May 21, during the 2026 TravelDaily Digital Intelligence Conference · Beijing, TravelDaily Partner and Chief Content Officer Han Peng presented the “2026 China AI Travel Application Trends Report (H1 2026),” focusing on two major travel scenarios: leisure travel and business travel. Among them, the more open-ended leisure travel segment accounted for approximately 70% of overall AI travel usage.
The survey found that 90% of respondents are aware of AI-powered travel tools, 70% have used them, and 22.5% use them frequently. This is a highly significant finding. It suggests that the future is already here: AI has penetrated the very front end of travel decision-making far more deeply than the industry had anticipated.
Based on the research, three key characteristics define AI travel users today: they are predominantly female, young, and middle-to-high income earners. When we compare these profiles with the mainstream travel consumer base, we find a remarkable overlap. In other words, AI has already reached the industry's most valuable and influential customer segment.
When city-tier demographics are added to the analysis, an even more interesting pattern emerges. The researchers identified a highly distinctive user group that they call the “affluent women in lower-tier cities.” Their AI adoption rate is actually higher than that of users in Tier 1 and New Tier 1 cities.
The hypothesis is that travelers in major metropolitan areas are already relatively mature consumers. They generally possess stronger financial resources, broader travel experience, and access to a wider range of information channels, making them less dependent on AI for discovering new destinations or travel ideas. By contrast, consumers in lower-tier markets often have strong spending power but more limited access to travel information and social networks. As a result, they rely more heavily on AI tools to obtain insights and inspiration that were previously beyond their reach.
The two most popular AI travel use cases are destination research and audio-guided travel experiences. These two scenarios are closely related. For example, some of the earliest AI-powered travel solutions developed by companies such as Mafengwo were sold directly to local governments and destination marketing organizations to enhance destination information services and tourism promotion.
The third most popular use case is flight and hotel price comparison and booking. One finding stands out in particular: users strongly want AI to compare prices, filter options, and provide trustworthy recommendations. However, after receiving AI-generated recommendations, 66.2% of users still return to online travel agencies (OTAs) to verify the information before making a purchase.
Based on these observations, we can draw three conclusions about leisure travel.
First, AI has already established itself as a new entry point for travel planning. However, for frontline tourism businesses hoping to capture this opportunity early, competing with maps, content platforms, and AI-native services for user attention will be extremely challenging.
Second, the rise of the affluent in lower-tier cities could accelerate the emergence of AI as a mainstream travel gateway. These consumers possess both spending power and loyalty. Their adoption of AI may push the market forward from the demand side, potentially bringing AI-driven recommendations closer to transaction conversion much faster than many industry observers expect.
Third, AI today remains primarily a content and information service. Nevertheless, the power of user migration should not be underestimated. In many ways, the current stage of AI resembles the early days of mobile internet ten years ago. At the time, many questioned whether mobile would truly disrupt the PC-based internet. Yet mobile technology continued to gain traction, ultimately reshaping the entire digital landscape. AI may well be following a similar trajectory in travel.
Report Purchase / Partnerships: leo@traveldaily.cn
